With a new round of direct discussions taking place in Washington, The JC looks back at some other attempts to bring peace to the Middle East and what we wrote about them:

The Camp David Accords: "Camp David had to succeed in establishing a framework for peace...if in discussions held under such total secrecy, over so long a period, and under such auspices, they were unable to agree on a blueprint for a settlement, the likelihood of their ever coming to terms in any other forum or at any other time was less than remote. It was impossible. And there was only one, terrible alternative to agreement - another pointless and bloody war from which, yet again, neither side could emerge as victor."

The Israel–Jordan Treaty of Peace: "Israel and Jordan sealed this week what is likely to prove the warmest peace in the Middle East...both the Jordanian monarch and the Israeli Premier know that their peace, must, as King Hussein put it, not simply be a piece of paper. It must be real."

The Oslo Accords: "The milestone draft accord between the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat’s PLO is, of course, only a beginning. Even if the final textual details are satisfactorily resolved, Mr Rabin faces public anger at home over an accord denounced by its opponents as a formula for Israel’s destruction. Still, it is an immensely important beginning…it represents an opportunity to put in place a process whereby peace, though by no means assured, is at least possible.”

See more of the JC throughout history by looking in the archives.